After facing defeat in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne and trailing 1-2 in the four-match series against India, Shane Warne had heaped praise on Cummins and predicted him to be the future captain.
On the day of the New Year, both the teams visited the Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's residence to meet him.
Pant took the baby-sitting thing quite seriously and was actually spend time with Paine's wife and kids in Sydney.
Opener Aaron Finch, who has scored only a single half-century in three Test matches, might be axed from the playing XI and as per reports, did not bat in the nets.
World No.1-ranked India have taken a 2-1 lead in the four-match series and retained the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
Good-natured they may have been but Pant's banter attracted immediate attention of umpire Ian Gould who cautioned him for his remarks.
The stump microphones have captured some interesting conversations between the Indian and Australian players during the ongoing Test series.
Riding on Cummins' four for 10 figures, Australia reduced India to 54 for five in the second innings of the ongoing third Test but still trail the visitors by 346 runs.
From babysitting his kids to playing for the Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash League (BBL), Paine threw open a lot of options for Pant.
India finished day three with a healthy lead of 346 runs after Jasprit Bumrah's career-best 6/33 helped the visitors sink Australia for 151 in 1st innings.
Finch said that he wasn't surprised after India declared with 25 minutes remaining in the day.
Tim Paine's comments behind the stumps went on for a few overs with Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, breaking into a smile every now and then.
India vs Australia, 3rd Test: Hosts Australia were 8/0 at stumps, trailing India (443/7 decl) in the first innings at the end of day two in Melbourne.
"We don't go out there to try and lose games of cricket, we go out there to try and win and play the best way we can," said Smith.
Australian bowlers had to toil hard as India finished at 215-2 with Kohli (47) and Cheteshwar Pujara (68) remaining unbeaten at Stumps.
"While he generally captains the side well, the way he behaves at times does not do himself or his team any good," Taylor said on Kohli.
A win at MCG will boost either side's chances of securing a rare series victory.
India have made three changes for the Boxing Day Test with Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja replacing openers Murali Vijay, KL Rahul and pacer Umesh Yadav.
Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, the Aussies recalled allrounder Mitchell Marsh, dropping struggling batsman Peter Handscomb.
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja comes into the XI after missing the first two tests, batsman Rohit Sharma has also been recalled and Mayank Agarwal is set to make his debut.
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